3. What actions is the Welsh Government taking to improve attainment levels amongst the most deprived pupils in South Wales West? OAQ52407

Thank you, Caroline. We continue to invest unprecedented amounts of funding through the pupil development grant: £187 million over the next two years will support schools across Wales to improve the outcomes for our disadvantaged learners, and this includes more than £25 million in the South Wales West region alone.

Thank you for that answer. Cabinet Secretary, in Neath Port Talbot, the percentage of pupils eligible for free school meals who attain level 2 or above fell last year, and fell quite significantly. The numbers are at their lowest since 2011. Cabinet Secretary, in light of this, and given recent comments about the effectiveness of the pupil deprivation grant, do you believe your policies are working for pupils in my region?

Well, firstly, can I correct the Member? It's no longer called the pupil deprivation grant, it is now called the pupil development grant. The Member is correct to say that after a number of years where we have seen an increase in the level 2 plus attainment level at GCSE for our children on free school meals and our looked-after children, unfortunately that cohort of children coped less well last summer with the introduction of the new GCSE specifications. We have conducted work internally to better understand why that cohort of children proved to be less resilient, especially as we see this year the introduction of yet new Welsh GCSE specs, for instance in science. 

I absolutely am committed, for the period of this Government, to continuing to fund the pupil development grant. In the independent evaluation that was undertaken of that grant, schools reported that they found it invaluable, and my job is to ensure that not only are those resources available to schools, but that individual schools that are in receipt of this resource spend it most effectively on interventions that we know work.

I was reading up, before the question today, and there was an Ipsos MORI and Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data and Methods report into the pupil development grant, and they were saying that while the pupil development grant had provided many positives, it was difficult to see whether it was solely as a result of the pupil development grant as to whether progress had been made, and that some of the changes had come before the pupil development grant had been implemented. Now, I know this is the key factor in trying to change the outlook of people who are from deprived backgrounds and so can you tell us what more analysis you've made since that particular report in 2017 to ensure that you know full well that it is the pupil development grant and the funding entwined with that that is delivering on those attainment levels, as opposed to something else that may be coming through from another place in terms of themes in the educational workforce planning?

Well, Bethan, this is an issue of social justice for me. No child's educational outcomes should be dictated to because of the circumstances of their birth or of their family's ability to support their education. That's why I make no apologies, as I said, for spending over £90 million this year on the education of those learners.

Now, what we know is that schools find this resource invaluable, that two thirds of schools are using the resource effectively to make a difference to those most vulnerable learners, but I want all schools to make effective use of this resource, and that's why we have, via our regional consortia, newly employed specific advisers to work with schools to ensure that this money that is being made available to individual schools is used to best effect. What we also know is that we need to intervene as soon as possible in a child's education, and that's why we have doubled the amount of PDG going into our youngest pupils' education, because if we can ensure that there is no attainment gap at the age of 11, that gives us a better chance of ensuring that children go on to obtain very good GCSE results. But I'm always keen to look to how we can develop and spread best practice, and that includes consideration of a Wales-specific Sutton Trust toolkit. At the moment, that is the gold standard against which schools are asked to judge decisions they're making about expenditure. I believe it's now time to look at developing a specific Welsh toolkit that recognises the specific cultural circumstances of the Welsh education system.